Mythical
by Crysal1010
Summary: Tails has grown more tails over the years, at the time having eight, but he is just one week away from his 18th birthday, and ninth tail. He's not looking forward to being a Kyuubi, but sadly, he seems to be a trouble magnet. Continuation: White
1. Chapter 1

Finally, I got this sequel to _A Secret's Vain _up and running. :D

I hope you enjoy it, for I haven't written a single thing in a long, long while. This takes place about… Nyeh, five years into the future.

...WOAH, I forgot to make paragraph breaks! Ah well, I fixed it now.

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**Mythical**

**By Crysal**

An alarm blared loudly, causing a figure to bolt upright in his bed.

"Aargh! Stupid alarm!" A voice said quietly, his throat still dry from sleeping with his mouth open. He looked at the digital time display and groaned; it read 5:00 AM. His alarm clock broke a few days ago, and now it kept blaring the alarm at exactly five o' clock in the morning, no matter what he set it to. This got on his nerves to no end, as he kept losing four hours of sleep every night. He shifted around until the covers glided off of him, and then he swung his feet out of bed, standing up. He walked with lazy, thumping footsteps to the other side of the room, where the clock was, before bending down and tugging on the cord connecting the annoying device to the wall. The blaring radio slowly lowered in pitch and speed as the time display fainted, before they both shut off. The figure chuckled; He found the sound rather humorous. He heard a moan come from behind him, and quickly whipped around to look in the direction of the sound.

"Bro… When are you gonna fix that thing?…" A voice groaned from the other side of the room. He flicked his tails in annoyance, almost knocking the alarm clock to the ground at his brother's comment. He hated people constantly reminding him of things he just didn't have time to do, as it frustrated him to no end.

"Sonic, I told you I have too many other things to do. I have to keep repairing things so I can keep my job-"

"Yeah yeah, I know. But I can't find a digital clock in any of the stores, no matter where I look…" The hedgehog interrupted, pointing out Station Square's lack of anything useful. The kitsune sighed, he didn't know what to do. He walked back over to his bed with more lazy footsteps, and climbed back in, pulling the covers around him. He shivered, their room was pretty much _freezing _at night. His tails flicked, throwing the covers at his bottom side upward before they floated back down. He sighed; he hated those things, there were just too many of them to handle.

"Um… Tails?" The blue hedgehog asked in a quiet voice, and the kitsune could hear his brother turn towards him. "I know you don't like to talk about this, but I just wanted to ask about your-"

"No. I don't want to talk about it, and I probably never will. Just leave me alone and go back to sleep, Sonic." The kitsune ordered strongly, a hint of anger in his voice. He didn't want to talk about _that_. No, anything but _that_. The hedgehog sighed.

"Listen Tails… You know I would never ridicule you for them, so why do you act like that?" The hedgehog sympathized, but it only made the kitsune feel worse. He didn't like to talk about them; it made him feel like a freak. "Isn't it also the reason your fur is become paler and paler?" The kitsune gulped, he didn't want to accept it, but it was true. His fur was getting a little bit lighter each day. And it was all because of… No, he can't think about that. It's too painful…

"Y…Yes…" The kitsune admitted with a whimper, tightening his little bundle of bedsheets. He stayed silent, fearing what the hedgehog was going to say next. Just don't say it… Don't say it…

"It's… It's about your tails…"

"**What about them!?" **The pale orange kitsune screamed and turned around, catching the hedgehog off-guard. The force of his yell caused the room to vibrate, as they both felt and heard from the rattling of various objects in the room. The kitsune absolutely hated it when people brought up his tails, because it was not something to talk about with him. He found himself breathing heavily and gritting his fanged teeth together in anger, before he closed his mouth.

"T-Tails, calm down!" The blue hedgehog said hastily, surprised from the fox's outburst. "I-I'm sorry if you don't like to talk about them, but I just wanted to ask something. Please, just… Calm down…" The kitsune's breathing slowed, and he resumed his sleepy mood.

"Now… About your tails… You have eight of them now, right?" The hedgehog asked, causing the kitsune to cringe with embarrassment. He didn't like it, but it was true. He had grown five new tails over the years he had stayed at his brother's custom-built mansion. Five years… Five whole years, and he had become 17 over them. His 18th birthday was in one week… By study, he knew that he would grow his ninth tail that day. He would be… A Kyuubi. He just knew it would be terrible, having pure white fur and all those intimidating "Features". His fur at the time was a very, very, light orange, and he could hardly remember the deep orange fur he had back when he was 12, when he grew his third tail. The eight tails he had now were a bit too much to handle as they were rather large, each one the size of his torso. They also threw him off balance a lot, making him fall over backwards every once in a while. He had learned to shift his weight forward over the years, so that wasn't really a problem, but he often misjudges the size of them and sometimes knocks things over when he turns.

"Y…Y…Yes…" The pre-Kyuubi admitted, sniffling with tears flowing out of his eyes. He closed his eyes and pulled his bedsheets up over his muzzle in an attempt to hide his sorrow, but he knew it wasn't working. He felt an ungloved hand lay on his tails, and he immediately shoved it off with one of his namesakes, opening his eyes and glaring at the blue hedgehog. His glaring stopped when he saw that the hedgehog had a worried look on his face, like he just wanted to help. "Sonic…"

"Yes, Tails?" The hedgehog answered quietly, to avoid arousing any sadness in the kitsune.

"I… I don't want to be a Kyuubi…" The kitsune cried quietly, fearing the future. He didn't want to become a Kyuubi, it was just too much for him to handle. But… Maybe it wouldn't be all that bad. A change of appearance and an extra tail, that would be it.

But… A lot of power comes with being a Kyuubi, as he heard from old folk tales.

"It's okay, Tails… No matter what happens to you, no matter what changes you go through, just remember that you'll always be my brother. Nothing will ever, _ever _change that…" The blue hedgehog sympathized, reaching over to rub the fox's side with his gloveless hand. The kitsune sniffed, and then relaxed a little bit.

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad…

* * *

The kitsune awoke lazily, pulling the bedsheets over his eyes to shield his face from the bright sunlight streaming in his window. He was about to fall back to sleep when he realized that his alarm wasn't going off. _Again_. He jumped out of bed, landing with a rather loud _thump _on the carpet, and gazed at the clock on the other side of the room. His vision hazy from sleep, he had to focus, aligning the two visions of the clock with one another, to see that it said…

"Nine o' clock?!" The kitsune said, startled. Oh no… No, he was late for work! He dashed out the bedroom door and ran down the hallway, careful to keep his tails from bumping into things such as small tables and table-stools with lamps, trinkets, and teacups on them. He grabbed his work clothes from the hanger on the door at the end of the hallway and quickly garbed himself in the blue T-shirt and jeans, before picking up his tool box and running to the door, to see a note taped on the window. He picked it up and held it up to his face. It read:

_Dear Tails,_

_I went to find a new alarm clock at the new store down the street. If you're reading this, you're probably late for work, and that's why I'm going to get one._

_Hugz, Sonic. ___

The kitsune chuckled, strangely amused by the hedgehog's note and his rather immature spelling of "Hugs", before he remembered he needed to hurry and get to work. He threw the note behind him and opened the door, before briskly walking out of it. He closed the door, before breaking into a sprint, whizzing down the single dirt driveway extending from the front of their house to the left, connecting itself to one of Station Square's streets. He had not yet learned to use his eight tails to increase his speed, so he simply used his training with his brother to sprint at speeds upwards of 200 miles per hour. If only he didn't have so many tails… He couldn't help it, so he always dismissed the fact and trained his legs to run fast, since he couldn't use his tails.

The pale orange kitsune zipped along the dirt path, the trees flying by him so quickly they looked nothing more than a green blur. It wasn't long before he noticed a drastic acceleration overtake him, and he began traveling at what seemed like nearly four times his previous speed. He heard an auspicious industrial fan-like sound come from behind him, arousing his curiosity. He looked ahead of him to make sure there was nothing he was about to crash into, and then took a quick look behind him to see a pale orange disk rotating behind him. A wide smile appeared on his face. He was spinning his tails! Joy erupted from him in an excited yell that escaped his throat, and in a flash, he sped into Station Square. He detached his feet from the ground as all sizes of buildings zipped past him as he darted through the city streets, dodging pedestrians and cars that threatened to smack into him at any second. When he saw his workplace approaching, he immediately reversed the direction of his tails, and began to slow down, not wanting to overshoot his mark. He found himself being lifted up into the air, and took another look behind him to see that his tails were slightly slanted upward. He paid no mind to it as he slowed to a stop in mid-air, and landed on the ground with a short _thump_, his knees bending as they absorbed the force of the impact. He dusted himself off, and walked to the front door, looking up at the large sign that said "Powahouse Automobile Repair Co.".

He chuckled to himself at the rather corny name of his company, before walking through the rotary door and entering the building. The front room looked rather unfamiliar to him, but he had just started working there, and this was his first day. He had worked at other companies before, including an aircraft construction and Repair Company, a gourmet bakery, and others. He was fired from the aircraft company because he was building a plane of his own, and slapped his logo onto it, but it got mixed up in the shipments and one of the customers who ordered an entirely different plane ended up with his. When they traced it back to him, he was fired. The gourmet bakery went pretty smoothly, since he knew exactly what would make a good cake and what wouldn't, but he was fired after he started shedding because his fur kept getting into the batter. The front room was rather nice for an auto-repair shop, with nice wallpaper, carpet, elegant paintings and potted plants. He looked around, taking in the sights, before walking to the front counter, where a female squirrel was writing something on a notepad. Nowadays, there were just as many furries as there were humans living in Station Square, so it was no surprise to see a squirrel working a computer. He slapped both his palms on the counter, gaining the squirrel's attention.

"Can I help you, sir?" The red-colored squirrel asked nicely, blinking at the kitsune. She was clothed in a white T-shirt, a jeans jacket, and jeans, and was wearing a headset with a headphone and microphone.

"Hello, I am Miles Prower. I applied for a job here, and I'm supposed to start today." The pale orange fox answered, gesturing his hand as if he were holding something. The rusty-red squirrel walked to a nearby computer and began to type on it.

"Let's see… Miles Prower, is it?" The squirrel said, still typing on the keyboard. The computer made a small beep. "Oh yes, we do have an appointment with you, Mr. Prower. Just head into that door over there." The squirrel said again, pointing to a chrome door to the right of the counter. It was a perfect chrome – there were absolutely no mistakes, and the door was basically an unbreakable mirror. He walked over to the mirror-door, and studied himself in it, before opening it. Before he could even lift the door past it's hinges, he heard an "Oh my…" come from behind him, and let go of the door. He turned around to see the squirrel, her fingertips on her chin. She simply stared at him with a shocked look on her face, not a word escaping her throat.

"What?" The kitsune asked, raising his arms and upturning his palms. The squirrel did not move. He raised an eyebrow, and looked back at the squirrel, putting his arms down. "What?" He asked again, this time with more enthusiasm, but the squirrel remained still as a statue. A slightly angered look appeared on the fox's face, and he clenched his fists. What was she staring at??

"Y…Y…You… You're…" The squirrel said, her voice shaky. The kitsune then realized that he had shown his… _Backside _to the squirrel. He gritted his teeth and squinted his eyes, filled with anger at the squirrel's reaction.

"Is it about my tails?! Urgh, what the _hell _is wrong with you people!?" He yelled, turning around and throwing his arms into the air out of pure rage. "I don't see why I even freaking bother; You people _never _learn!!" The kitsune ranted, turning back around and swinging his fist. He opened the door, stomped inside, and slammed it shut with an ear-deafening noise. Why can't these people just accept him for who he is?! There was nothing wrong with having a lot of tails, damnit! It was normal for him! He clenched his fists and whispered curses under his breath for a short two minutes before footsteps interrupted his storming. His head immediately shot up, forgetting all his anger as he looked around the hallway he was in, seeing the carpet-like wallpaper with several shelves holding pictures bolted to it. He heard three short _whirrs _come from around the corner of the hallway, followed by more footsteps. He quietly padded his way down the hallway, thankful for the fact that he wasn't wearing shoes, and quietly peeked around the corner to see a black female cat inspecting a new-looking red painted convertible. He absent-mindedly let out a breath, and the cat whipped it's head around to look at him.

"Hey there!" The cat said friendlily, waving at the kitsune. The kitsune brought his head back, and walked around the corner, his tails hanging behind him. He walked up to the cat, and smiled in response, exchanging his own "Hello!". The cat raised its eyebrow, and tilted its body to look around behind the kitsune. She continued to look there for about twenty seconds, studying him. The pale orange fox squinted his eyes, somewhat angry at the cat.

"What are you looking at?" The kitsune said rather harshly, but refrained from yelling as much as he could. The cat snapped back upward, uttering a short "Nothing" before quickly turning around to continue inspecting the car.

"You're acting like you're afraid of me. Why?" The kitsune inquired with a curious tone, and the cat sweatdropped, apparently frightened. She started to scribble something on a notepad.

"N-n-nothing…" The cat stuttered, beginning to shake, and he could easily tell that she was nervous. He bent over, hands in his pockets, to peek at the cat's face, and her expression was that of pure terror.

"You look scared." He said, causing her to jump with a frightened yelp. She grinned at him nervously, and shook her head.

"N-n-n-no, Mr. Fox, I was just…." She stuttered again, her eyes darting back and forth, apparently searching for an answer. In one swift motion, the kitsune grabbed her shoulder, but her frightened expression only grew in intensity as a result. She quickly broke off and backed against a wall, but as the pale orange kitsune re-approached her, she started to whimper.

"Why do you look so afraid?" The kitsune asked, standing in front of the cat. She tried to back against the wall moreso, but she only succeeded in pressing her back against it. Her whimpering escalated, and the cat displayed an expression of pure, unadulterated fear.

"D…D…Don't…Don't hurt m-me…" The cat pleaded, her eyes beginning to fill with tears. The kitsune's jaw dropped; He would _never _hurt someone as innocent as her! Why does she think that?

"What?? That's ridiculous, why would I hurt you?" The kitsune said in response, making a gesture with his hands. Her fearful expression seemed to cease a little, and she stopped backing against the wall so much. She began to whisper something under her breath, something indistinguishable to the fox. He cocked an eyebrow, confused by the onyx feline's actions. He then remembered the book he read on reading lips, and examined her mouth closely. Ha…Hachi…Hachibi. Yeah, that's what she was saying, but what did _Hachibi _mean? The pale orange kitsune turned sideways to look at the red convertible, swinging his tails around as well. He then heard a small _crash_, and the sound of glass shards bouncing across the floor, and he whipped around, feeling his tails bump the convertible as he swung them.

There was a picture frame on the floor, the glass broken with pieces everywhere on the ground. He knelt down and picked the picture up, a look of disbelief on his face. _He did it again. _He knocked another object to the floor with his tails, another mistake that was his fault. He looked back up at the onyx feline, and she was looking down at him.

"I… I'm… sorry… I … I just…" The pale orange kitsune stuttered, beginning to shake. He was trapped in an incomprehensible spiral of emotions, consisting of sadness, confusion, regret, and many others he could not recognize. The black cat walked over to him, and sat down in front of him.

"It…It's okay… At least the picture isn't damaged, so I can just get a new frame…" She said, reaching for the picture. The kitsune let go, and she took the picture, placing it on her lap. She placed her hand on his cheek, and looked into his sapphire blue eyes with her amythest purple ones.

"Now, I'd like to ask you…" –She paused to take a breath- "What you're doing back here. This is for employees only… Wait, are you Miles Prower?" She said, placing both hands on the floor. He swallowed, and nodded, blinking twice. She smiled again, and helped the pale orange kitsune to his feet, placing the picture back on the shelf.

"Oh, so you're the new employee. My name is Alexa, and let me show you around!" The onyx cat chimed happily, placing her hand on the kitsune's shoulder. She walked to a door on the other side of the room, and opened it, revealing a room with a dream of tools inside it, from wrenches to flame welders to futuristic electro-ratchets. The pale orange fox gazed around the room at all the tools, his mouth open in a predatory smile, displaying all his teeth. The ebony feline next to him giggled, apparently amused at his surprise.

"We call this room the Master Toolbox. It's where we keep all the tools!" She said, still giggling, but she might as well be talking to a stump, because the kitsune wasn't paying attention to her, still focused on all the tools. She looked at him and pouted, but he still paid no attention. In one swift motion, as expected from a cat, she grabbed one of his inch-long canines with her thumb and index finger in an attempt to garner his attention. He looked at her with his eyes, and uttered a short "Hey, let me go!" but her hand remained where it was, a sly grin on her face. She wiggled her hand, forcing the kitsune's head to move with it, until he grabbed her hand and pulled it out of his mouth. She giggled again.

"I think you need to see a dentist, because your fangs are kinda long!" She said, before doubling over in laughter. This caught the pale orange fox off guard; He had never thought about his canines before. He opened his mouth, which was closed, and felt the bottoms of his upper canines with his index fingers. To his surprise, they were rather long, so maybe the black mammal was right; he _did _need to see a dentist. He looked back at her; she was still laughing. He then grinned slyly, and moved his hand in front of her face, before tensing it, causing five pearly-white claws to shoot out from his fingers. She immediately stopped laughing and took a step backward, startled from him protruding his claws. He started to laugh at her awkward expression, as did she. Soon they were both doubled over in laughter, tears beginning to pour out of their eyes from laughing so hard.

Suddenly, an explosion sound came from nearby, and the ground shook, halting their laughing fit. Alexa immediately dashed out the door and out of sight, leaving the fox to the tool room. He began to ponder what he could build with all these tools, but he refused to let his imagination get the best of him, and quickly ran out after the ebony feline. Unfortunately, by the time he ran out the door, she was out of sight. His nose twitched as a pungent odor seeped into his nostrils, and quickly covered his face. It smelled like… Like something burning. He immediately realized that something was on fire, and he sprinted in the direction that the smell was coming from, hoping Alexa would be there to help him with the fire. He dashed down a solid granite corridor that looked like it came straight from a volcano, passing by many shelves and tools as he made for the burning object

He ran around a corner, and discovered that the end of the hallway was on fire. He panicked, and searched frantically for something to calm the fire; A fire blanket, a fire extinguisher, just… Something! The fire was edging closer to him as he searched, and he could already feel the immense heat waves from the plasmic substance pounding on his fur. He could feel himself starting to sweat from the heat, and he began to pant, his tongue rolling out of his mouth. He looked down the end of the hallway he had come from in hopes of finding fire equipment, but there was another explosion, and the door at the end of the hallway he came from came loose from it's hinges and flew towards him. He jumped down the first hallway with unnatural speed, and the door flew harmlessly over his head into the opposing wall. What… Was that? How did he move so fast? A white-hot lick of flame on his jeans interrupted his train of thought, and he immediately jumped several feet away into the corner. He could see the first flame slowly creeping across the floor, and looked back down the second hallway to see that another flame had blocked his only way out. He began to hyperventilate at the realization that he was trapped, and that he would die here in the next few minutes. He could feel his anticipation rapidly climbing as both flames drew nearer, their combined heat only accelerating his sense of fear. He spotted a fire extinguisher down the second hallway, but the flames had already engulfed it, and he could not reach it. He could hear another explosion, followed by a scream and footsteps, and he felt his stomach twist into a knot at the thought of another person running down the granite hallway.

He tried to scream for help, but a knot arose in his throat, preventing him from making a sound. He heard a loud _clack, _and then a subsequent _Psshh _sound, but he was too focused on the flame drawing near him to notice. The light from the flames was illuminating the dark hallway with an ominous red light, clearly indicating their immense heat and capabilities. The flames had reached the corner now, and he could feel tears pouring out of his eyes at the fact that in just a few more seconds, he would be boiled alive by the flames. The knot in his throat prevented any cries for help, any hope of him being saved, any possible way of surviving this ordeal.

Another explosion shot out from the door of the first hallway, and he could see the wall of fire flying torwards him.

"_**HEEEEELLLP!!!"**_

_**

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Quite the cliffhanger I gave you guys, huh? Will Tails find a way out of this, or will he be roasted alive?? I know it was short, (If you call four pages short. It was actually eight pages on my Word…) but I promise I'll make another chapter soon!


	2. Chapter 2

I am SO sorry I procrastinated so much... I got a new computer for Christmas, and with all my new games... Fun. Anyway, I think I turned this fic into a fantasy-style thing with Tails's "energy". ...Eh, in my fic, Tails IS a magical kitsune, so.... Yeah. I can do whatever I want. :P Besides, this way, it's a lot more interesting to write, so I write faster! That's good, right? :D

I might change the genre of this fic, so just be prepared for it.

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**Mythical  
Chapter 2  
By Crysal**

As the blazing inferno roasted the air just a few feet away from the fox's nose, he knew that it would all be over soon. He never even got to say goodbye to Sonic, or any of his other friends, and would just be burned to death inside a flaming building. Another part of him differed, however.

_**"You're not going to let this petty little fire burn you, are you? You have the power to stop it, so use it."**_A voice inside his thoughts beckoned, a deep, tempting, echoing voice, clearly attempting to influence his actions. It wasn't a voice, though, it was a feeling, but he could somehow convert it into words... What was this being?

_"Who... Who are you? And w-what are you talking about? I don't have power... I'm just a-"_

_**"Kitsune? Exactly. You **__**do**__** have power. Now use it, and stop these arrogant flames." **_The voice interrupted, resuming it's previous command. The fox remembered reading a book about kitsunes, and it said that they have unimaginable power, but this clearly wasn't relating to him, since he could recall no instance of anything extraordinary ever happening since he grew his third tail five years ago.

_"Who are you??"_ The kitsune inquired, unable to comprehend this... this _entity _that was speaking to him. He had never heard this voice before, but he felt as if he had known it all his life.

**"Who am I?"** The voice said, followed by a shallow chuckle. **"I'm you. The other you. I reflect your true desires and thoughts. You want to stop this fire, so do it. We both know you can, so don't be phased by a simple flame and go knock it out of existence."** The wall of fire seemed to be crawling toward him in slow-motion, the bulbous flames rolling along the granite hallway. The eight-tailed fox blinked, his focus returning, and the flames shot towards him once again. He concentrated on his right hand, and could feel something spill into it, before thrusting his palm out in front of him to meet the burning substance. Upon colliding with his hand, the inferno split into two streams and passed harmlessly at his sides, burning the wall behind him. When the sea of flames ceased to pour in his direction, he gaped at his open palm with awe.

It was surging with an orange-colored energy, writhing and weaving around his hand at high speeds. Without warning, his foot slipped on something, and he fell forwards, pounding the granite floor with his furred palm and causing a ring of energy to pulse from it. When the ring passed over the flames, they simply flickered out of existence as if they were never there. The ring split into waves and soared down the hallways, completely extinguishing the lambent tongues of flame with ease. The hallway immediately became very dark, as the lights were most likely melted, and there was no source of illumination now that the flames were gone. He marveled at himself; he completely extinguished the fire! And he did it with... His amazed expression immediately changed to one of confusion.

_**"See, I told you. You did it, congratulations on shoving away that petty little fire." **_His inner self said satisfactorily, and he could almost feel a sly smile on it's face.

_"Wow... I __did__ do it! Hey, thanks, but can you please not talk to me?" _The kitsune thought, gleaming with pride.

_**"I'm not talking to you. I'm not even here..." **_His inner self said, before seeming to vanish from the kitsune's awareness. The kitsune dismissed the situation as unimportant, and started walking blindly back through the hallways, his furred feet making almost no sound as he padded on the granite floor in pure darkness. He could see a little bit in the dark, mainly because he was a fox, so he could navigate somewhat coherently in the darkness, although he could see close to nothing. The kitsune walked through the dark hallways for near half an hour before he finally spotted a light that wasn't completely melted, and was still shining rather brightly, which forced the kitsune to shield his eyes upon looking at it because his eyes were attuned to the darkness he had been trying to navigate. When his eyes adjusted to the newfound light, he walked through the bleak granite hallways until he reached the room with the red convertible, where he saw Alexa inspecting it once more. Upon hearing him step on a twig, she looked up at him and smiled at his presence.

"Oh, you're back! I was trying to find a fire extinguisher for the fire, but it just.... _Disappeared _right before I got there with one. Where have you been?" The black cat said, reminding the kitsune of his little _extravaganza _back there. He smiled nervously and cocked an eyebrow at the subject; should he tell her? No... She was already somewhat scared of him earlier, and telling her that he could split a raging fire in half with the palm of his hand would probably only summon those fearful thoughts once more.

"Uhhh.... Ehrm.... Ah, I was looking for a fire extinguisher, too?" The kitsune said unsurely, an unwanted hint of dubiousness in his voice at his attempt to excuse himself from any suspicion of the fire being extinguished so suddenly. An expression of confusion suddenly spread across the cat's face, and her eyes glided downward a millimeter or so.

"Why is your hand glowing?"

The kitsune immediately flinched at the cat's comment, and his eyes widened as he at his furred hand, which was still surging with the energy he used to extinguish the flames, athough it wasn't moving quite as quickly as before. He immediately put it behind his back, and uttered a short "What are you talking about?" as his nervous smile grew in intensity.

"That... That energy around your hand. What is it?" She inquired, walking toward the pale orange kitsune, who stood in place, his eyes darting from one place to another as he frantically searched for a way to cut off the energy. ...Maybe he could transfer it to another body part. He marked a pathway with his mind from his energy-filled hand to one of his tails, and the energy followed it, filling his leftmost tail with the strange newfound power as the orange glow around his hand dimmed. Alexa, now standing beside the off-white fox, used her catlike speed to reach around his back and grab his hand, pulling out in front of her. She inspected it again, turning it this way and that. The kitsune almost chuckled at the cat's confusion, but held it in, as it would arise suspicion if he actually laughed while she did that.

"Wait a minute, it was just here... It couldn't have just-... Maybe I was...." She looked up at his face again, and he dropped his nervous expression, relieved that she didn't see anything. "Just seeing things?" She inquired, and the kitsune nodded as if it were actually true. She let go of his hand, and went back to examining the convertible behind her.

"Well, I'm actually the CEO of Powahouse Pro automobile repair Co., so let me introduce you to your new job!"

* * *

Sonic the Hedgehog walked around the new department store, _Crystal Gardens_, his emerald green eyes scanning his environment for a good and cheap alarm clock. His eyes caught on a particularly shiny chrome-plated alarm clock far down the isle, and in an instant, he was crouching next to it, eying it suspiciously like a cat ready to pounce on a mouse. The display read 2:23 PM, which was a direct indicator of how long the hedgehog had been at the store. Yes, two hours and twenty-three minutes of alarm clock-hunting in this enormous store. It took him an entire hour to find the clock section, another hour to find the digital alarm clock section, and twenty-three minutes of browsing alarm clocks. The alarm clock he was looking at was very expensive, $300, and he knew he couldn't afford it, but the chrome plating seemed to draw him in. He knew he needed to find one he could afford, but he couldn't look away for some unfathomable reason. He heard someone nearby clear his throat, before he felt something grab his neck and hoist him into the air. A male human employee that was wearing a uniform with a green crystal pattern was holding his neck and looking at him sternly.

"We know that hedgehogs are naturally attracted to luminescent objects, but please do not linger around the _Glender_. There are other customers waiting to see it, you know. It's the newest one." The human said in a deep-throated voice, holding the four-foot-tall cobalt hedgehog at eye level.

"C'mon man, I'm 26! Don't treat me like a kid, okay?" The cerulean hedgehog quiped, crossing his arms. The way the man was treating him was rather annoying at his age, as you expect to be treated like a grown man at 26. "Now put me down!" The man set the hedgehog onto the ground as commanded, and walked away solemnly to help another customer. The cobalt hedgehog sighed, and continued walking along the isle, fingering his tan-colored chin fur. He stopped at a compact and somewhat reflective clock. It said TIMEX on it, and there was a tag that said _Timex alarm clock, radio and/or alarm capabilities and deep bass speaker. $25_. He smiled at his find, and grabbed one of the many duplicates of the clock, before taking off. He ran through the store, dodging pedestrians here and there, before arriving at the checkout counter to see a very long line extending from the counter to somewhere deep in the store. At the front of the line were mainly old ladies who paid for their purchases with pennies, as the old woman currently at the counter was demonstrating. He clutched his head in disbelief.

"Aw, SHIT!"

* * *

"This is the garage, the place that you'll be repairing the vehicles. We're very popular, so don't be surprised if a tank from G.U.N. rolls in." The onyx feline said with a small chuckle, introducing the fox to a large room with walls and floor of concrete. There was a steel garage door at one end, obviously where the cars drove in for repairs, along with various tools lining the entirety of the grey, bleak concrete walls. The pale orange kitsune grabbed a hammer from the wall and fiddled with it, running his furred hand across the smooth surface of the polished wood handle. He never had such smooth tools at home, as his were always crude and gave him splinters every time he used them. He winced and dropped the hammer as the energy stored in his leftmost tail spiked painfully, and the steel blunt side of the hammer fell straight onto his foot. Bouncing a few feet to his left, it gave off a sharp _clink _each time it collided with the floor, before embedding it's nail remover side into the wall. He yelped and dropped onto his backside, rubbing his foot with his hands.

"Oh, what happened?" The black cat said, turning around to rest her gaze on the kitsune who, with squinted eyes, was gritting his teeth and whispering curses under his breath as he rubbed his damaged foot. She reached down to help the kitsune back onto his feet, but he shrugged her arm away.

"I'm.... Sh-.. .Fine...." The kitsune forced through gritted teeth, the throbbing pain in his foot rendering coherent thought nearly impossible. After two or three minutes, the pain in his foot had dulled significantly, and he was able to stand up again, although there was a mild but persistent spike of pain every time he stepped on his left foot. Alexa went ahead and guided him out the door and to the next room, her small and subtle tail gently waving from side to side as she walked, unlike Miles' eight, which tended to flick about as if they had minds of their own. Upon reaching the next door, which was fabricated with an orange chrome, The ebony feline stopped and motioned toward the door, as if she wanted the pale orange fox to enter the strange room.

"This is your office. Go on in, it's okay!" She said, and the kitsune complied, reaching for the doorknob. Suddenly, the energy in his leftmost tail spiked again, this time more painfully than before, causing him to scream and fall onto his hands and knees.

"Miles!" Alexa yelled as she reached down and placed her hand on the young fox's head, trying to ease his pain. However, the pain did not stop, rather it kept flowing, and he could feel a pressure building up inside his tail. It felt like it was going to explode. Once he deduced that there was no other choice, he let the energy spill from his first tail into his second. The pain stopped, but the young fox felt a terrible discomfort at the fact that the energy inside his body was _growing_. Just an hour ago, the energy was only enough to fill one tail. Now it fills two. By the end of the day, it would fill at least five. And then six, seven, and eight. And then what after that? The rest of his body? But... Then his entire body would be glowing, and people would no doubt take notice. He looked down; this was only going to get worse...

He then stood up cautiously, his legs wobbling, before taking a solid posture and hold of the doorknob. He turned and opened it, and the door swung away from him to reveal a painted orange room that was very nicely decorated. It was painted orange, and had several shelves with books on mechanics, along with several non-anthropomorphic fox statues scattered around the room. The room was lit not by a buzzing fluorescent light, but instead by four lamps in each corner. At the back of the room was a desk, complete with pencils, pens, paper, and a pencil sharpener. The kitsune walked into the room with a wide smile on his face, examining it with overjoyed eyes: This was exactly how he had imagined his work office to be. It had everything, a computer, a printer, even office supplies! He could work with these...

* * *

The cobalt hedgehog grunted, irritated. He had waited for half an hour in this god-forsaken line, and now there was only one person in front of him, but the old husk was taking much too long for the hedgehog's tastes, as he liked everything fast. His life was fast, as he always ran from place to place, turning a two-minute walk into a two-second run every chance he could get. He was always full of energy, always fidgeting in some way whenever he sat still. He drummed his fingers, he twitched and kicked uncontrollably, he even clenched his fists on soft objects such as the leathered arms of a chair whenever he wanted to go and run, and now, he was rapidly tapping his right foot out of impatience.

"Sixty-eight... Sixty-nine... Seventy... Oh, I hope you don't mind that I'm paying in pennies..." The old lady slowly said in an oblivious voice, unaware of the 26-year old hedgehog behind her wanting to shove the old lady aside and buy his damn alarm clock already. The irritated hedgehog clutched the alarm clock in his hand, his tension and rage building up inside, nearly at the boiling point. He swore he was going to go insane if he had to wait any longer for this stupid old lady!

"Not at all, ma'am." The male employee at the counter said as if he had all the time in the world, but you could see it in his eyes that he was getting tired of this lady shirking her courtesy and making the rest of the customers wait.

"Seventy-one, seventy-two.... Oh, I lost count. I'll just start over, don't you worry your little head!"

Sonic felt something inside him snap.

"Augh, will you just get your ass away from the counter already!? I'm tired of waiting!" A voice shouted angrily behind the cobalt hedgehog, followed by three or four "Ditto"s from the other customers. The old lady cringed at the voices, apparently sad at her lengthening of the waiting time for the line.

"Oh, I j-just r-remembered I have a cr-credit card... Here you go..." The old lady said in a cracked voice, extracting a plastic card from her purse. The blue hedgehog felt sympathy for the lady; she sounded like she was about to cry. He felt his ears droop, and he looked up at her as she made her checkout and walked away with a package of plastic combs. He never knew people could be this cruel. He walked up to the counter and paid for his alarm clock with twenty-five rings, before leaving through the revolving door. Station Square had recently come to accept rings as a form of currency, since before that, most of the furries living within the city had to haggle to pay for things with their rings, and it was becoming a problem. In response, the steel-built city officially declared Rings an official currency, each one equal in value to a dollar. His head snapped to his left as shouting broke his train of thought.

"It's okay, you can take the rest of the day off! We don't make our employees work on their first day." A female cat chimed, pushing a figure out of the door of what looked like a solid granite building. The figure was skidding on it's heels, obviously not wanting to leave. The hedgehog squinted his eyes, unable to make sense out of the struggling figure due to the enveloping light of the afternoon sun reflecting about the luminescent surfaces of the city.

"B-but I r-really have to stay and get r-ready for m-my first day at work!" A male voice stuttered, apparently unsure about whether he should accept the day off or prepare for tomorrow. Wait a minute... The blue hedgehog could recognize that voice anywhere. He quickly sped toward the figure, covering the near twenty yards inbetween them in less then a second, before skidding to a stop in front of him. A smile crept across the hedgehog's face; it was his best friend, Tails!

"Yo, Tails!" He said, swinging his arm across his chest and making a thumbs-up sign with his hand, a gesture that had been his signature pose for years. The fox looked up at him, pain and fear apparent in his eyes. At that expression, the hedgehog's cocky smile stopped dead in it's tracks, and he let his arm hang at his side, realizing that he had absent-mindedly used the fox's nickname. Miles had told him not to use the nickname in public, as it called attention to the multiple appendages hanging from the fox's backside, and was just a few steps down from outright screaming "Hey, look at this fox's tails! There's eight of them. Weird, huh?".

"..Tails? That's a... erm... _grotesque _nickname for you..." The onyx cat said with a descending tone, as if she felt sorry that the hedgehog was using such a crude and hateful nickname. The hedgehog's mood sank; he had just made a grave mistake. He dropped his head an inch or so.

"I'm... I'm sorry, buddy. I-I didn't mean..." The cobalt mammal said, his voice shaking. He couldn't believe he just did that, completely throwing the fox's dignity into the garbage like he didn't care at all. A white tiger bumped into him from behind, breaking the hedgehog's train of thought. The tiger quickly apologized and departed, before stopping dead in his tracks at the sight of the kitsune. The fox dropped his ears, and looked up at the tiger to his left, who was staring at him with a shocked expression. Sonic grabbed the tiger's arm and tugged in his direction.

"Stop staring at him!" He shouted angrily, diverting the tiger's gaze away from the kitsune. The tiger shook free of his arm and quickly scuttled into a nearby building, leaving the three alone on the sidewalk. The black cat let the pale orange fox back onto his feet, and dusted herself off.

"Miles, do you know this hedgehog?" She said, pointing an accusing finger at the spiky mammal. The fox nodded, and walked to Sonic, draping an arm over his shoulders.

"Yeah, he's my brother. We do lots of stuff together." The cat raised an eyebrow, confused. The duo didn't _look _like brothers, since they were different species.

"But... You don't _look _like brothers..." The cat said, her eyes darting back and forth between the two males. The kitsune opened his mouth to speak, but before he could get anything out, he flinched and doubled over in pain, falling onto his knees. He yelled, shaking, and clutched his head with one hand as if he was feeling mental pain rather than physical pain. The hedgehog just stood there; stunned from his brother's sudden actions. He saw something bright in the bottom part of his eye, and directed his gaze to the kitsune's backside, before his eyes widened. Three of his tails were... _Glowing_? Is that even possible? His jaw dropped at the sight, before he shook it off and helped the fox back onto his feet.

"C'mon buddy, We gotta go."

* * *

Half an hour later, the brothers were back at their house, and the vulpine was chopping several fruits with a rather large knife. The hedgehog stood near the fox for some reason, always directly behind him.. He occasionally turned around to look at him, but whenever he did, the blue blur just smiled and waved. He squinted, deep in thought; Why was he acting so strangely? He always stood behind him, like he was looking for something. Something that was _on _him. Was there something on his face? He turned to his left to look at the quaint hedgehog, and saw that he was looking at something below, before he snapped his head back up and smiled. He was certainly acting strange....

"What are you looking at? Is there something on my face?" He asked, pointing to his white muzzle. The hedgehog shook his head, his smile vanishing. Wait... He was looking _down, _right? Could he be looking at... His tails? No, that can't be it. His best friend would never one-up him like that... He set down the knife and used his hand to scoop the chopped fruit into a bowl, thankful he had washed his hands before he started preparing the dish. He walked a few feet to his right and grabbed a pair of tongs used for tossing salad, before beginning to walk back.

"So... Uh... How do I say this..." The hedgehog began, twiddling his fingers as if he were about to reveal something unpleasant. "Umm... Your tails were... Glowing..."

The kitsune dropped the tongs he was holding, the steel clamps creating an awful clanging as they collided with the floor. He had to supress a gasp. "Wh-what are you t-talking about?" He stuttered, playing dumb at his brother's realization. He forced a shaky smile onto his face, his entire body trembling out of nervousness at the hedgehog's comment. The cobalt mammal waved his hand downward in response, a gesture of dismissal. "Forget it" He said, and walked over to the off-white fox, resting an arm around his neck in an empty appeal for forgiveness. The fox simply shook him off. He bent down and picked up the tongs the nervous kitsune dropped, and offered them back to him. The fox immediately snatched the tongs from his hand, and began hastily mixing the bowl of fruit, just a few joules away from slinging the concoction to the other side of the kitchen.

"Tails, look at me for a second." Sonic said, immediately gaining the attention of the kitsune. Sympathy washed over the hedgehog as he saw that his best friend now had a melancholy frown on his face, as opposed to the joyous smile that he had known him for. He placed a gloved hand on his brother's chest, and looked into his sapphire blue eyes, which were slightly bloodshot. A sympathetic look appeared on the hedgehog's face, and he took a breath.

"Whatever you're going through... I'll understand. You can tell me _anything, _Tails. I'm your brother, and I've known you for fifteen years, so I can help you. Just tell me, Tails... Just tell me..." The hedgehog said softly, attempting to ease his brother's pain. He whimpered quietly in response, taking a few steps backward. The hedgehog took a breath, overwhelming sorrow for the emotionally damaged kitsune washing over him. "Tails... Please... Just tell me..." The hedgehog said, even quieter than before. A single tear streamed down the fox's left cheek, and he shook his head slowly, not wanting to reveal his worries to the hedgehog. He's lying, he wouldn't understand, he would never know the changes the pale orange kitsune is going through right now. But he could easily tell that Sonic just wanted to help, he just wanted to ease his pain. He took a shaking breath, and swallowed once. He could feel himself beginning to hyperventilate, and tried to muster up the courage to tell the hedgehog his problems. It was nighttime now, the shining moon providing little light in the extremely dark room. This didn't help his anxiety; a dark room causes a dark mood, and he was not very confident at the time.

"W-W-Well... I-I..." The pale orange fox began, his voice shaking. The hedgehog beckoned, reassuring the embarrassed fox. His eyes darted from one corner of the room to another, checking for nonexistent eavesdroppers, before taking a deep breath to calm himself. This didn't cause his trembling to cease, and he was still shaking uncontrollably, worried more now than ever about his brother's response. He thought back to the other times he had told the hedgehog his problems. He had never let him down before, so why now? "O-Okay, m-my tails _w-were _glowing... B-but that's because of th-this strange e-energy b-building up inside m-me..." He stuttered, his nervous tears streaming down his face and dropping off his chin. He wished he could just disappear here and now, to get away from all this, to just go back in time and start over, never growing more tails. But that couldn't happen. It was his destiny to live an abnormal life, full of strange events. The hedgehog cocked an eyebrow, confused at the anxious fox's explanation.

The kitsune began to feel faint after hyperventilating so much, his vision blurring. He shook his head, attempting to clear it, but when he opened his eyes, it was still there. The image of the cobalt hedgehog blurred and distorted in every direction, slowly fading in color. He could feel his eyes roll back into his head, and his vision faded to black.

Then he saw nothing.

* * *

Well, that felt kind of rushed. What do you think? I'm sorry I took so long to update, (Procrastination FTW!) but here it is, just how you've been waiting for it. It's seven pages. :D Tails's "Inner self" Wasn't really originally part of the plot, but... Meh.

I listened to several songs while writing this fic, so I'll post part of the lyrics to one. I don't know what it's name is, so go ahead and tell me! :3

**I took a walk around the world to ease my troubled mind.**

**I left my body lyin' somewhere in the sands of time.**

**But I'll watch the world fall to the dark side of the moon.**

**I feel there's nothin' I can do...**

**Yeah...**

**I'll watch the world fall to the dark side of the moon...**

**After all, that moon had to be somethin' to you too...**

**I really don't mind what happens now and then...**

**As long as you'll be my friend at the end...**

**If I go crazy then will YOU STILL CALL ME SUPERMAN?**

**If I'm alive and well, will you be there to holdin' my hand?**

**I'll keep you by my side for my superhuman mind, Kryptonite...**


	3. Go read White

Listen people, this story has NOT been abandoned. It's been continued, not sequeled, on my other account, Sparkz1607, as "White".

Go read it if you want more! :)


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